Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (Hindi: भारतीय प्रौद्योगिकी संस्थान, मुंबई), popularly known as IIT Bombay or IITB, is an autonomous university located in Powai, in north central Mumbai. It is the second-oldest campus of the Indian Institutes of Technology system and the largest National Institute in the state of Maharashtra. IIT Bombay ranked as Asia's 3rd best institute in science and technology,^[1] the world's 36th best institute in technology,^[2] the world's 30th best for engineering and IT^[3] and the world's 30th best in engineering/technology by the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings in 2009.^[4]

History

IIT Bombay was the second IIT to be established in 1958 with assistance from UNESCO and with funds contributed by the Soviet Union. UNESCO agreed to provide equipment and technical experts mainly from the Soviet Union, while the Government of India accepted the responsibility for all other expenses including the cost of the building project and recurring expenses.^[5]

IIT Bombay Main Building

The site chosen for the institute was Powai, eighteen miles (29 km) from the city of Bombay (Mumbai), with an area of 550 acres (2.2 km²) which was given by the then Bombay State Government. While construction was being completed, the first academic session of the Institute opened on July 25, 1958, in its temporary home at the Synthetic and Art Silk Mills Research Association (SASMIRA) building in Worli (Bombay) with 100 students. These students were selected from over 3,400 applicants for admission to the first year undergraduate programmes in Chemical, Civil, Electrical, Mechanical and Metallurgical Engineering. One of the main objectives of establishing the Institute was to develop facilities for studies in a variety of specialised engineering and technological sciences. The need for establishing adequate facilities for postgraduate studies and research was kept uppermost in mind in the founding years.

While the Institute was functioning provisionally at Worli, an effort was made to expedite the progress of the building project at its permanent location and Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation stone of the Institute at Powai on March 10, 1959.

Campus

The IIT Bombay campus is located at Powai, a suburb in north western Mumbai, between the Vihar and Powai lakes. It was designed by Vanu G. Bhuta for Messers G.M. Bhuta & Associates. The four main entrances to the campus are the Main Gate, the Middle Gate (now closed for security reasons), the Y-Point Gate (also called the Market Gate) and the Lake Side Gate. The Main Gate is the only one which is open 24 hours a day, while the Y-Point Gate is open only between 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.

The Tree of Knowledge - a wrought iron sculpture in the lawns facing the Administrative Building at IIT Bombay

The campus is divided into clusters of buildings. The academic area chiefly comprises the Main Building, various Departmental annexures and auditoria. All department annexures are connected by a corridor named Infinite Corridor. Beyond the Convocation Hall lies the hostels (with the exception of Hostel 10, which is abutting the departmental annexure). The hostels are numbered from 1 through 14, with Hostel 10 (under-graduate and post-graduate) and Hostel 11 (post-graduate) specially reserved for women. Tansa House is a housing complex exclusively for the single male project staff. It is the smallest hostel in IIT Bombay with 128 rooms. The Tulsi House is meant for married research scholars. Apart from these, few students also reside in Type -1 quarters, Vihar House, QIP quarters and DRDO building which are situated in the campus.

Bombay by Hostels 1, 5 and 10 (Performing Arts Festival)

Due to its proximity to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, the campus is extremely clean, green and mostly untouched by the pollution of the rest of the city. The proximity of the campus to the national park has also led to occasional sightings of panthers and Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) crocodilians along the banks of Lake Powai. A popular weekly newspaper Planet Powai reports events and happenings of this campus regularly.

The institute has two swimming pools; football, hockey and cricket grounds; and tennis, basketball, squash and volleyball courts. It also has a Students' Activity Center (SAC) for various cultural and other extracurricular activities. In addition to these facilities the campus also houses two high schools, one of which is a Kendriya Vidyalaya and the other is called IIT Campus School.

Cultural activities like dramatics also mark an important feature in the life of a student of IIT Bombay. Many students are very passionate about the annual inter-hostel Performing Arts Festival (PAF).

The annual cultural festival Mood Indigo is held in the month of December and is supposedly the largest of its kind in Asia. The most attractive feature of this 4-day event are the competitions, exhibitions, games and musical concerts.

The annual Science & Technology festival of IIT Bombay, Techfest is held in the month of January every year and is the largest of its kind in Asia. It comprises various events like competitions, exhibits and talks from guest speakers from around the world. Techfest 2009 was also the first event of its kind in India to conduct its events in other countries.

Apart from cultural and technological activities, the campus is also involved in business activities with bodies like The Entrepreneurship Cell, which support the growth of start ups across the globe.

These college festivals are organised, financially managed and conducted entirely by the students of this Institute. All these festivals and organizations are sponsored by private enterprise}.

Apart from these festivals, various other engineering streams based festivals are also being organized to motivate students towards Science and Technology. These include the Radiance, Zephyr, Azeotropy, Padarth, Aagomani and recently, Aakaar. Moreover, various media bodies managed by students are also present in the campus, which includes Insight (English newsletter), Aawaaz (Hindi newsletter), MEME (Mechanical Department newsletter), Dhatuki (Material Sciences Department newsletter), BluePrint (Civil Department newsletter), Psi-Phy (Physics Department newsletter) and others.

Academics

The academic system assigns a grade index to students, with 10.0 being the maximum possible index that can be achieved. Also, there are rules requiring a compulsory 80% attendance in classroom courses.

Organization

At the institutional level, IIT Bombay is governed by a Board of Governors with a Chairman nominated by the Visitor, the Director as a member and the Registrar as secretary. Besides this, there are four persons having specialised knowledge or practical experience in respect of education, engineering or science nominated by the Council. Two professors are nominated by the Senate. Additionally, one technologist or industrialist of repute is nominated by the Government of each of the States of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.

For all academic matters, the Senate is the authority having control and responsibility for the maintenance of standards of instruction, education and examinations and all other allied academic matters. The Senate is mainly constituted of all the professors of the Institute and the Director is the Chairman.

The key people in the execution of the Institute's activities are the Director and Deputy Director who are assisted by Dean (Research and Development), Dean (Planning), Dean (Students Affairs), Dean (Academic Programmes) and Dean (Resources Development), and the Heads of the Departments, Centres and Schools. The Administration is managed by the Registrar, with senior administrative officers being assigned for specific areas such as Estate Management, Materials Management, Personnel Management, Finance and Accounts, and Academic Affairs.

Academic Office

The Academic Office of the institute exists to facilitate, initiate and co-ordinate the academic work of the Institute, particularly the teaching and assessment of students. It acts as the repository of grades and academic records of all students, both past and present. It provides administrative support to the Senate, which is the highest academic body of the Institute

The Head of the Academic Office is the Dean of Academic Programmes, who is a senior professor of the Institute. The Dean is helped by a permanent administrative set up headed by a Deputy Registrar (Academic). Academic Office closely interacts with the Dean of Student Affairs (DOSA), who looks after all non-academic problems of students. The DOSA, as the ex-officio President of the Student Gymkhana, coordinates various co-curricular activities of the students .

Alumni

The Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management

IIT Bombay Heritage Fund (IITBHF) and IIT Bombay Alumni Association (IITBAA) are the two official organizations for alumni of IIT Bombay. The alumni website was amongst the earliest alumni websites for an Indian university. The IIT Bombay Heritage Fund (IITBHF) is a public charitable organization under US Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3), whose mission is to fund and promote education and research among students, faculty and alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. The IIT Bombay Alumni Association (IITBAA), registered under Section 25 of the Indian Companies Act, 1956, works for strengthening the connections between alumni, enhance ties to their alma mater, and provide services to alumni.

As the official alumni association, IITBAA plays a key role in building the alumni network and supporting the local Chapters which are all over the world, from Bangalore to Boston to the Bay Area. IITBAA staff work with IITBHF volunteers in maintaining the alumni website and the Alumni Directory which allows 30,000-plus IIT Bombay alumni to stay in touch with each other and with their alma mater.

As the Alumni Fund of IIT Bombay, IITBHF has raised over $20 Million for IIT Bombay over the past decade, and helped fund major infrastructure projects and new schools on campus including the Kanwal Rekhi School of Information Technology (KReSIT), Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management (SJSOM) and key projects such as the renovation of the hostels (dormitories) on campus.

To build better student alumni relations, a voluntary student organisation named Student Alumni Relations Cell (abbreviated as SARC) had been formed in 2007. SARC conducts events like Phonathon and LSSD to keep in touch with the alumni and those like Placement Information Programme, Lecture Series and Alumni Student Mentorship Programme to increase the interaction between the current students of IIT Bombay and the alumni.

Departments, centres, and schools

IIT Bombay has 14 departments, 10 multi-disciplinary centres, and 2 schools of excellence. The academic departments in IIT Bombay include the following:

1. Aerospace Engineering
2. Chemical Engineering
3. Chemistry
4. Civil Engineering
5. Computer Science & Engineering
6. Earth Sciences
7. Electrical Engineering
8. Energy Science and Engineering
9. Humanities & Social Science
10. Industrial Design Centre
11. Mathematics
12. Mechanical Engineering
13. Metallurgical Engineering Materials Science
14. Physics

The following multi-disciplinary centres are located in IIT Bombay:

1. Computer Aided Design Center (CAD)
2. Centre for Research in NanoTechnology and Sciences (CRNTS)
3. Centre for Aerospace Systems Design and Engineering (CASDE)
4. Computer Centre
5. Centre for Distant Engineering Education Programme (C-DEEP)
6. Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering (CESE)
7. Centre for Studies in Resources Engineering (CSRE)
8. Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (CTARA)
9. Centre for Formal Design and Verification of Software (CFDVS)
10. Sophisticated Analytical Instrument Facility(SAIF)

The two schools of excellence in IIT Bombay are:

1. School of Biosciences and Bioengineering Bioschool
2. Shailesh J Mehta School of Management (SJMSOM)

In addition to above, IIT Bombay also offers three inter-disciplinary programs:

1. Corrosion Science & Engineering
2. Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (IEOR)
3. Systems and Control Engineering

Academic programmes

IIT Bombay offers a wide variety of courses of study in engineering, pure sciences, design, management and humanities with a primary focus on engineering. The university is a member of LAOTSE, an international network of leading universities in Europe and Asia exchanging students and senior scholars.

The Institute conducts educational programmes leading to the degree of Bachelor of Technology (B. Tech.),Dual Degree(B.tech. and M.Tech. in 5 years), Master of Science (MSc.), Master of Technology (MTech.), Master of Design (MDes.), Master of Management (MMgmt.), Master of Philosophy (MPhil.) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD.) in the following areas:

Every year, IIT Bombay awards degrees, B.Tech, M.Tech, Dual Degree (B.Tech and M.Tech), M.Mgmt and Ph.D to more than 1,000 students. The undergraduate students at IIT Bombay are selected through the Joint Entrance Examination of the IITs. At a given time, the campus is home to more than 6,000 people, comprising of students, professors and non academic staff.

Each year, students finishing at the top of their class are awarded Institute Silver Medals at the convocation Ceremony. Students finishing with the highest GPA in the entire institute are awarded President of India Gold Medals.

Research and development activities

Faculty members from IIT Bombay undertake industry sponsored research and consultancy projects that are made available through the institute. These are funded by various national agencies like the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Electronics, Department of Space, Aeronautical Development Agency, Department of Atomic Energy, and Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC). Many are also working on missions of national importance. A few projects are also being funded by international agencies. Typically in one year, there are about 400 on-going sponsored projects. The sponsored research has ushered in intense research activity leading to the formation of active research groups and has helped in the creation of modern research facilities in key areas.^[6]

Consultancy has been a major avenue of interaction between faculty and industry. Consultancy work provides an opportunity to tackle live industrial problems and enhance professional expertise. There are collaborative and consultancy projects with many industries, some abroad. About 700 to 800 projects are executed every year.

The office of the Dean (R&D) provides the necessary liaison with industry and sponsoring agencies. The office helps industry to identify faculty expertise and institutional facilities, and assists faculty in identifying industry problems.^[7]

Lane at the rear of the Main Building leading to the Arch

There are also a number of central facilities such as the Central Library, Central Workshop, and Printing Press. Many new research facilities have been acquired or developed in the last few years. One of the most important of them is the Computer Centre which started functioning in 1986 with facilities which have been continuously updated. The Computer Aided Design Centre with its own mini computers and work stations, supplemented by additional computing facilities, caters to CAD activity in Chemical Engineering and Metallurgical Engineering. Research groups like VLSI Design, CAD/CAM also have computing facilities which are accessible to other departments for development activities. Recently, work on developing medical implants has been initiated. The OrthoCAD Network Research Cell was established in 2007 to jump-start indigenous research and development activities in orthopaedic reconstruction systems. Important experimental facilities set up by various departments include laboratories for robotics, biotechnology, microelectronics, microprocessor applications, telematics, remote sensing, low temperature physics and aerodynamics.

Notable alumni

• Rajesh Jain
• Narendra Karmarkar
• Victor Menezes
• N. K. Naik
• Arun Netravali
• Nandan Nilekani
• Nitin Nohria
• Satyendra Pakhale
• Manohar Parrikar
• Jairam Ramesh
• Kanwal Rekhi
• D Udaya Kumar

See also

• List of universities in India
• Universities and colleges in India
• Education in India
• Distance Education Council
• University Grants Commission (India)

References

External links

• Official Website
• Alumni Website